LGM-35A Sentinel - Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program

Wow, I never knew USN did not do insensitive HE. It seems weird given their exclusion of hypergolics, but I suppose in an SSBN environment, if something reaches the warhead, you are dead anyway.
 
Josh_TN said:
Wow, I never knew USN did not do insensitive HE. It seems weird given their exclusion of hypergolics, but I suppose in an SSBN environment, if something reaches the warhead, you are dead anyway.
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It's a function of having the smallest possible RBAs.

And, as you noted, if something reaches the warhead the whole sub is fubared.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Which is a heck of a lot less than the 475kt of W88s, or whatever the W87 ended up at.
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I can’t find the link thought I posted it under the Nuclear Weapons thread but the next ICBM warhead now known as the Future Strategic Land Based Warhead was supposed to revive the design of the 500-800kt /Calmendro/Munster MX alternative warheads.
 
Scott Kenny said:
You get more coverage with dropping a large number of RVs in a snowflake-circle instead of a single large warhead.
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Munster was W87 size but 800kt though.

Scott Kenny said:
Which is a heck of a lot less than the 475kt of W88s, or whatever the W87 ended up at.
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But it may be near W76 mass, since the FSSW (Future Strategic Sea-based Warhead) is due to replace the W88. The chart leads me to believe there'll be 3 Trident warhead types - W93, FSSW and SLW.
 

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Forest Green said:
Munster was W87 size but 800kt though.
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iirc, 3x100kt covers more area than 1x1MT.


Forest Green said:
But it may be near W76 mass, since the FSSW (Future Strategic Sea-based Warhead) is due to replace the W88.
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No, I expect it to be W88 mass since it will be at least the yield of the W88.


Forest Green said:
The chart leads me to believe there'll be 3 Trident warhead types - W93, FSSW and SLW.
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Is Trident supposed to get W93?
 
If none of these treaties are in effect I wonder how much extra Oralloy the US has in stock for making new TN-warhead secondaries?
 
Josh_TN said:
None.
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Exactly.

So the USN could upload the Tridents to 12x W76-sized warheads relatively trivially. Though IIRC the "ideal" upload was 8x W76-size or 4x W88-sized, since that should leave both missiles with the same range. Allowing a mixed loadout of light and heavy missiles on each sub.


NMaude said:
If none of these treaties are in effect I wonder how much extra Oralloy the US has in stock for making new TN-warhead secondaries?
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IIRC not much. A significant quantity was remixed with DU to make reactor fuel.
 
Sferrin said:
When did the US start making more warheads? I wasn't aware the W87/88 lines were open for business again.
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No but they still have unloaded W76s for Tridents and they are making W87-1s for Sentinel.

There's 192 W88s (out of a total 384) loaded on 48 missiles 4-up, so that leaves 192 missiles that could be loaded with 8 W76s for 1536 + 192 (+25 W76-2) for 1728 (+25) SLBM warheads still maintaining 11,000+km range and 200 MMIIIs could be loaded with 2 warheads, still keeping range above 10,500km for 600 total ICBM warheads.

How many Sentinel is loaded with is another question.
 
Sferrin said:
Making new or remanufacturing existing W87s?
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I understood them to be new warheads, maybe based on the original W87-1 design, if that's what you meant.

Defense Primer: LGM-35A Sentinel IntercontinentalBallistic Missile
https://www.hsdl.org/c/view?docid=892881
The W87-1 is the “first newly manufactured nuclearwarhead in three decades,” according to its design agency,Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. NNSA is alsoestablishing production capacity to meet the requirement ofSection 3120 of the 2019 National Defense AuthorizationAct (NDAA) (P.L. 115-232) to produce 80 plutonium pits by 2030; NNSA announced the qualification of the first warreserve pit for the W87-1 warhead in October 2024.
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Warhead replacement program passes first key milestone​

https://www.llnl.gov/article/46796/warhead-replacement-program-passes-first-key-milestone
The W87-1 Mod will replace the W78 thermonuclear warhead with a modified design of the W87 warhead. The W78 is nearing the end of its functional lifespan after 37 years in service, perched atop the Air Force’s Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The W87-1 will be paired with an updated Mark 21 reentry vehicle, called an Mk21A
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Sferrin said:
80 pits by 2030? We were making thousands a year at one point. :mad:
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IIRC we built 3400 W76s in five years with 5 other active warhead programs in various stages of development through production.

I interacted with someone who said they were former NNSA discussing expanding the enterprise ultimately to produce more warheads. They indicated that between regulatory burdens, staffing/training/educational shortages and environmental restrictions we just can’t do these things anymore. We can only hope we get to 80/year.
 
There's tons of old warheads still around and plenty of nuclear material. W93 will be new, but W80-5 will likely reuse old warheads.
 
This is Sentinel topic. Keep on topic please.
 

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